Agnikul Launches India’s First Private Launchpad

Indian space-tech startup Agnikul Cosmos announced the inauguration of a launchpad and mission control centre at Sriharikota, being the first private player to do so. With this, Agnikul adds another milestone in its mission of making space accessible and affordable. 

Agnikul is based in Chennai and incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras. The startup is currently building a customisable small satellite rocket, Agnibaan, which can carry a payload of up to 100 kg to low Earth orbits up to 700 km. 

ISRO chairman S Somanath inaugurated the facility, launched to carry out Agnikul’s upcoming guided and controlled launch. The launchpad was executed with support from ISRO under the IN-SPACe initiative. At the inauguration event, Somanath said that with this new facility, “India can travel to space from one more space platform". 

Placed within a 4 km radius of each other, the critical systems connecting the two sections of the facility ensure 100% operationality during the countdown. Agnikul built the launchpad considering its ability to support liquid stage controlled launches while also considering the need for ISRO’s range operations team to keep an eye on important flight safety parameters while launches are underway. 

More importantly, the new facility will be used to communicate with ISRO’s Mission Control Center to exchange data and other crucial information. 

A few weeks ago, Agnikul successfully tested its fully-3D printed engine, Agnilet, at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center. This 2nd stage semi-cryo engine is the world’s first single-piece 3D-printed rocket engine designed and manufactured in india. The startup is backed by Mayfield India, pi Ventures, Speciale Invest, and Angel Investors like Anand Mahindra and Naval Ravikant.